8:49 PM, December 2, 2013

The state Board of Canvassers certified a controversial petition this morning that would require women to buy an additional rider on their health insurance if they want abortion coverage. / Jessica J. Trevino/Detroit Free Press

LANSING — Activists on both sides of the abortion issue are preparing for a fight when the Michigan Legislature returns from a two-week break Tuesday to consider a petition initiative that could make Michigan the ninth state in the nation to prohibit insurance plans from including abortion coverage in health care policies.

The petition initiative took another step forward today when the State Board of Canvassers unanimously certified it. Since the Legislature has strong anti-abortion majorities in the state House and Senate, it has a good chance of passing and immediately becoming law. But Democrats and abortion rights supporters are vowing a battle.

“Forcing women to decide whether they want to buy ‘rape insurance’ and even compelling parents to make the unfathomable decision about whether to buy it for their daughters is truly despicable,” said Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing. “Requiring Michigan women to plan ahead for an unplanned pregnancy is not only illogical, it’s one of the most misogynistic proposals I have ever seen in the Michigan Legislature.”

Michigan Right to Life, which spearheaded the petition drive, argues no one should be forced to subsidize abortion — either through federally subsidized health exchange insurance plans or through the premiums they pay on private insurance.

“The Affordable Care Act is upon us and because of the intrusion into the private market, tax subsidies will be used to subsidize health care plans purchased on the health care exchanges,” said Genevieve Marnon, a spokeswoman for Michigan Right to Life. “Unless we opt abortion out of those plans, tax-subsidized dollars will be going toward abortion coverage.”

If the petition becomes law, Michigan would join eight other states that have instituted policies prohibiting public and private insurance plans from including abortion coverage in health care policies, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based agency that tracks policies regarding women’s health and reproductive rights. Another 15 states prohibit the coverage in insurance purchased through the health exchanges set up through the Affordable Care Act.

The initiative would require all private and public health insurance plans to offer a separate rider for an abortion. People would then have to buy that rider before knowing whether they would need an abortion and wouldn’t be able to buy the rider after getting pregnant by any means, including rape or incest.

The number of abortions in Michigan hit a high of 49,098 in 1987, but has steadily decreased since, hitting a low of 22,357 in 2009. Last year, 23,230 abortions were performed in the state.

The petition is headed to the full Legislature, which received it this afternoon and is expected to act after returning from a two-week break Tuesday. The Legislature has 40 session days to deal with the petition initiative.

The clock begins ticking Tuesday and will take a slight break when the Legislature adjourns in mid-December for a three-week holiday break.

A majority of the members in both chambers signed the petition and backed legislation last year that did the same thing. That bill was vetoed by Gov. Rick Snyder, who called it an inappropriate intrusion into private health insurance.

Senate Republicans, who hold a 26-12 majority in the chamber, are to talk about the issue in a closed caucus on Wednesday, said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe. The House of Representatives hasn’t made a determination yet when it will take up the issue, said Ari Adler, spokesman for Speaker of the House Jase Bolger, R-Marshall.

Gearing up for a fight

Democrats and abortion rights supporters are trying to get legislators to do nothing or reject the initiative, which would push the measure to a statewide vote in November. Planned Parenthood of Michigan and the ACLU are using social media and other forms of lobbying to get their message across.

One of the biggest complaints of abortion rights supporters is that a small number of people are determining health policy for all of the state’s women. Michigan has more than 7.4 million registered voters, and the 315,477 signatures turned in by abortion opponents represent about 4.2% of the state’s voters.

“This is a controversial issue that’s been vetoed by two Republican governors (Engler and Snyder),” said Megan Groen of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan. “This is something that the voters should decide.”

The inclusion of private insurance plans in the initiative was meant to provide one set of rules for insurance companies, Marnon said.

National debate

The National Women’s Law Center, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates on issues affecting women, researched how many people bought optional riders in states where the law has been in effect for several years.

“There are no statistics because they don’t exist,” said Gretchen Borchelt, director of state reproductive health policy for the center. “No one can guess what specific health services they might need, so it makes sense that insurers are not creating these policies because nobody is buying them.”

The North Dakota Insurance Department said no health insurance carriers offer abortion coverage now, according to Andrea Fonkert, spokeswoman for the department. North Dakota’s law was enacted in 1979.

About 70% of women who get abortions pay for them out of pocket, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The cost ranges from $300 to $1,700, depending on the procedure and how late in the nine-month term the abortion is done.

Renee Chelian, founder of Northland Family Planning in Southfield, which provides abortions in three locations in the state, said between 25% and 30% of her clients use insurance to cover the procedure.

“That’s a lot of women that this is going to impact,” she said. “It’s just so wrong that such a small percentage of people can dictate Michigan law.”

Cost estimates on optional riders aren’t available.

“We are reviewing the language to determine how we would interpret it and the steps we would have to take should it become law,” said Helen Stojic, spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, one of the biggest health insurance providers in the state.

Certified petition

The Board of Canvassers certified today that Michigan Right to Life had more than enough valid signatures to start the ball rolling on the new state law.

A minimum of 258,088 valid signatures were needed. The anti-abortion activists turned in 315,477 signatures, and the Secretary of State’s elections division estimated that 299,941 of those are valid.

The Legislature added the optional abortion rider language into a bill last year that transformed Blue Cross Blue Shield into a nonprofit mutual insurer. And even though the BCBS bill was a priority for Snyder, he vetoed it because of the abortion language.

A legislative ballot initiative has been used four times since 1987. Three of the questions were abortion related and the fourth was to repeal Michigan’s Single Business Tax in 2006.